Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 7 Feb 2002

Vol. 548 No. 1

Written Answers. - Overseas Development Aid.

Bernard J. Durkan

Question:

75 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the extent to which he has secured support or supported programmes through the UN or EU for the alleviation of starvation and human rights abuses in African countries which have been the subject of international concern; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4046/02]

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Cowen):

The situation in Africa remains a matter of serious international concern. I share this concern, particularly in relation to the ongoing problems of starvation and human rights abuses. Global hunger is now estimated as affecting 830 million people worldwide, and the problem is particularly critical in Africa. The World Food Programme has estimated that up to 16 million people are affected by hunger in the Greater Horn of Africa alone. The scale of hunger in Africa makes it a major priority for Ireland Aid. We have co-operated closely with our EU partners, and other major multilateral donors such as the World Food Programme, to tackle the humanitarian crises which have affected the continent. Ireland Aid has been actively involved in providing emergency relief to Somalia, Sudan, Rwanda and the Great Lakes Region, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Angola and Sierra Leone. In 2001, Ireland Aid provided almost €14 million to fund emergency relief and rehabilitation programmes for Africa.

The EU's Food Aid and Food Security Policy is a key element of the Community's response to famines and food security crises in Africa. Ireland Aid has been working closely with our EU partners to improve the effectiveness of this policy and the European Commission has now presented a Communication on the Evaluation and future Orientation of Food Aid Policy and Food Aid Management. This will give effect to a number of key recommendations which will improve the impact of EC food aid. These changes, which should make food aid more effective and responsive, have included a re-focusing of efforts towards strategic and sectoral issues, the introduction of country strategy papers to assist in streamlining rules and procedures and closer co-ordination of efforts with NGOs and recipient governments.

At UN level, Ireland has strongly supported the target adopted by the UN Millennium Summit in 2000 of reducing by half by 2015 the proportion of people who suffer from hunger. The Rome Declaration on World Food Security and the Plan of Action, adopted at the World Food Summit, WFS, in 1996 set out the way towards the achievement of the goal. The follow-up conference to the World Food Summit will take place later this year, and will provide a key opportunity to review progress towards meeting the WFS target, and to renew global commitment at political level to the task of eliminating hunger and malnutrition in Africa.

The problems of starvation and human rights abuses in Africa are interlinked, and clearly demonstrate the vital importance of good governance for the sustainable development of the continent. All of Ireland Aid's activities, including our programmes with our developing country partners, are based on the fundamental principles of good governance, respect for human rights, democracy and the rule of law. It is clear also that conflict and political instability in Africa lead to famine and human rights abuses. We are addressing these inter-related issues through an unprecedented increase in the volume of overseas development assistance in line with Ireland's commitment to reaching the UN target of spending 0.7% of GNP on ODA by 2007; using our current membership of the UN Security Council to work towards the resolution of conflicts in Africa; participating in efforts to assist conflict resolution and post-conflict reconciliation. These have included participating in UN peace-keeping operations in regions of conflict, such as the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea, UNMEE; funding to support the Inter-Congolese dialogue, and assistance for the Special Court in Sierra Leone which is a key part of the process of post-conflict normalisation and the restoration of the rule of law there; increasing our national contribution to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights by 55% in 2002 to €2.16 million; co-operating with our EU partners in addressing serious human rights concerns in Africa, including Zimbabwe; providing funding for the key UN organisations, the World Food Programme, food and agriculture organisations and the International Fund for Agricultural Development, involved in helping the starving and in promoting food security.

Starvation and human rights abuses are major obstacles to the development of Africa. The Government, in close co-operation with our partners in the EU and UN, will continue to work to address these problems through a comprehensive programme of long-term development assistance, emergency relief, conflict prevention and resolution, and support for efforts to promote good governance, democracy and respect for human rights and the rule of law in Africa.

Question No. 76 answered with Question No. 37.

Bernard J. Durkan

Question:

77 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the full extent of the Government's contribution under the multilateral aid programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4048/02]

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Cowen):

Ireland's multilateral assistance is channelled through a number of international bodies and organisations such as the EU, the World Bank Group and the United Nations. A substantial amount of Ireland's aid budget is allocated for payments to these international and multilateral development and finance bodies. In 2000 a total of €93.35 million was channelled through multilateral development assistance agencies, equal to 36.5% of Ireland's overall aid expenditure, i.e the Ireland Aid budget plus funding from other Government departments which may be accounted as overseas development assistance.

The reduction of poverty is the over-arching objective of the Government's programme of development assistance. All funding, whether bilateral, channelled through non-governmental organisations or allocated to the development activities of international organisations, must meet this objective. Our multilateral funding enables us to contribute to the global fight against poverty while maintaining a clear focus on our bilateral aid programme.

Our contribution to EU development activities are obligatory and arise out of our membership of the European Union and our ratification of the Lomé Conventions, now the ACP-EU Partnership Agreement. There has been a wide public debate on the strengths and weaknesses of the EU development assistance programme recently, including the backlog of aid commitments which have remained unspent over several years. Ireland, together with a number of other like-minded member states, has been very active in pressing the European Commission to reform the management of the aid programme to make it more effective.

This political pressure and the wide public debate has had a very positive influence on the management of external aid. While there is a need for further progress, I strongly welcome what has been achieved so far and I am confident EU development assistance is now more efficient and better managed.

Ireland's contributions to the UN agencies are voluntary. Our contributions to the United Nations reflect our strong commitment to the role of the UN in promoting economic and social progress in accordance with the UN charter. In allocating funds to the UN agencies, we look at coherence with our objectives, management strength, effectiveness and efficiency, a commitment to UN reform and a clear focus on poverty reduction. In order to build on the strengths of our partnership with the UN, we are now focusing our aid on a more limited number of UN agencies which meet these criteria.

Ireland's contributions to multilateral organisations are a vital component of a balanced and comprehensive approach to development assistance. Ireland Aid will continue to work in partnership with key multilateral organisations to ensure that we succeed in our overall objective of helping developing countries to reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development.

Bernard J. Durkan

Question:

78 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the total amount of the Government's annual contribution under the bilateral aid programme; the extent to which it is proposed to increase such expenditure; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4049/02]

Bernard J. Durkan

Question:

81 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the extent to which the Government proposes to meet UN recommended targets for overseas development aid; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4052/02]

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Cowen):

I propose to take Questions Nos. 78 and 81 together.

As the Deputy will be aware, the Government decided in September 2000 to move progressively to the UN target for overseas development of 0.7% of GNP. The intention is that this target will be met by 2007 and that an interim target of 0.45% of GNP will be achieved by the end of 2002. Following this decision, agreement was reached between the Ministers for Finance and Foreign Affairs on a three-year allocation for Vote 39 for the period 2001 – 2003.

The amounts agreed were as follows:

Vote 39 – Increase on previous year

	€m	€m
2001	239	64
2002	372	133
2003	441	69

The provision for expenditure under the bilateral aid heading in 2002 is €276 million. It is anticipated that the Government's contribution under this heading will increase annually in the context of an expanding aid programme generally. The proportion of overall development aid funding allocated to the bilateral aid heading will be determined having regard to the recommendations of the Ireland Aid review committee.

Bernard J. Durkan

Question:

79 Mr. Durkan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the countries with which the Government has bilateral aid agreements; if it is intended to increase or reduce this number; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4050/02]

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Cowen):

As the Deputy is aware, the bilateral programme of Ireland Aid is concentrated on six poor countries in Africa. These are Ethiopia, Uganda, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Lesotho. The involvement in these countries is guided by individual development co-operation agreements with these countries. The question of whether there might be an increase or decrease in the number of countries with which we have bilateral aid agreements is under consideration by the Ireland Aid review, which is nearing completion. Given the degree to which co-ordination of bilateral and multilateral donor efforts with partner countries is growing, there is a question over the necessity for formal intergovernmental agreements to underpin our bilateral aid programme with particular countries.